50-hour working weeks mean fathers 'are missing out on time with children'
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Your support makes all the difference.One third of fathers are spending more than 50 hours at work despite new regulations improving working conditions, according to a survey published yesterday.
A poll of almost 1,000 British workers showed fathers are putting in longer hours than childless colleagues and fathers elsewhere in Western Europe.
Union leaders said the findings of the European Union study added weight to their demands for stricter implementation of the EU working time directive for a 48-hour week.
The study, by researchers from the University of Hertfordshire, found a third of British men put in more than 50 hours at work, compared with a quarter of childless men and one in 20 childless women doing equivalent jobs.
Blue-collar workers were more likely to be burdened with longer hours than fathers in managerial or professional roles. Eight out of 10 fathers complained that hectic work schedules created difficulties fulfilling family duties and household tasks, but said they felt forced into longer hours to provide for their children.
Almost 40 per cent said they would prefer to work fewer hours and two thirds said they wanted to spend more time with their family.
Elsewhere in Western Europe, fathers were better able to achieve a balance between work and family. In the Netherlands and Sweden, only two in 10 fathers worked more than 48 hours a week, compared with four in 10 in Britain.
The EU's recommended maximum of 48 hours a week was exceeded by 78 per cent of blue-collar working fathers in Britain and 60 per cent of fathers in managerial or professional roles, the survey showed. Eight out of 10 fathers were working late at least once a week or at weekends, compared with fewer than half of female respondents without children and two-thirds of childless men. Dr Christine Cousins, co-author of the report, said: "British fathers are putting in such long hours at work that they are missing out on valuable time with their children."
Amicus, a union for skilled workers, said the survey backed its own studies which showed there was still "massive" scope for opting out of the working time directive. Its joint general secretary Roger Lyons said: "We are not at all surprised by this survey. Amicus has been campaigning for the Government to implement the working time directive fully.
"Forty-eight hours is too much, but it is a good start. We need investment in skills, equipment and machinery to bring productivity and working hours into line with our European counterparts."
The survey questioned 945 adults aged between 18 and 64, as part of an EU project involving eight countries.
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